I Hate Valentine's Day
by cheergirlejami
Summary: EJami Alternate Universe story. Sami Brady and Chloe Lane own a florist shop so of course Valentine's Day is important. EJ DiMera is the new guy in town and while he and Sami have struck up a friendship with one another, they both wish of something more although both of them won't make the first move. Add in Chloe trying to play Cupid and misunderstandings ensue.


**I Hate Valentine's Day**

_Author's note:__This is just a sexy alternate universe one shot short story complete for EJami.__While I love Valentine's Day apparently my muse is a bit more jaded.__So last night before I went to sleep she kept pestering me to write this little story in honor of the holiday that was celebrated yesterday.__Hope you all enjoy and remember Jezebel or as she likes to call herself Jezzy,__my muse,__loves to hear your thoughts as well._

_Valentine's Day …_

The one day of the year Sami Brady hated above all others, which was kind of ironic in a way especially since she was the co-owner of Tiger Lily, the most prosperous flower shop in Salem.

Was it the deluge of flower orders that made Sami despise the day? No, Sami didn't mind the extra hours she had to put in for weeks ahead of the holiday dubbed the day of love. Plus the money the she and her best friend/business partner Chloe Lane made during the season was enough for her to put aside her apparent distaste for the holiday or rather she faked it very well while in the presence of others beyond Chloe.

For all her customers knew, Sami loved Valentine's Day, thought it was the best freaking day of the year. The bouquets of flowers she created in masse were some of the most coveted creations a woman or man could hope to receive. She'd been surprised over how well her floral arrangements had taken off, add in Chloe's artwork and the new line of gift baskets they now sold and they were making money hand over fist.

If their business kept growing, they'd have to expand the shop and add on more employees to their staff beyond the few college students from Salem University they hired temporarily each year during the mad rush for others to proclaim their undying love for one another.

So as far as Salem was concerned Sami Brady along with Chloe Lane were considered the gurus of love. While in reality Chloe was an expert on love or rather sex, Sami was not. Yes, Sami could come up with some very interesting and downright naughty things for the gift baskets they sold, but Chloe was the only resident in their apartment that used them or rather tested out prototypes of items they would buy for their stockroom of what Chloe loved to call the love shack supplies.

In all honesty, she and Chloe had enough adult toys and gadgets in the backroom to open up another store for adult novelties, Chloe had even suggested they do so, but Sami adamantly refused. Her grandmother ran The Brady Pub and if she knew her granddaughter dabbled in such things she'd be appalled and while Sami didn't care much for the opinions from the rest of her family, she did care what her grandmother Caroline thought of her.

So they'd keep their side business of kinky toys, lotions etc…in the back, hidden away from the general public. Although generally if anyone ever bought such a gift basket from them, they usually had return customers for life, throw in a bottle of wine and some glasses too and you had the perfect set up for seduction.

Or so Chloe claimed you did, because Sami would have had to been deaf not to hear her rather loud room-mate when she had overnight guests over. Even worse was the fact lately her new love interest was none other than her step-brother Brady Black.

It really was rather embarrassing to hear her best friend yelling _don't stop_, or _that's it right there_, not to mention the dreaded _oh god I'm cumming_ especially since she was using those epithets with Brady. Thank goodness though Chloe had already informed her that tonight she was going over to Brady's apartment to spend the evening with him.

And Sami would have to be an idiot not to know Chloe was ready to begin her evening, it had been quite nauseous to listen to her humming all day because Chloe knew she was going to get laid tonight.

_Whereas Sami was not, going to get laid at all.__No earth shattering, rock the world orgasms for her._

Sad thing was while Sami knew about such things and they were supposedly a natural occurrence in nature because Chloe seemed to have them a lot, she'd actually never experienced one personally before or rather experienced with another person.

Then again that might have had something to do with her, she'd only dated two guys seriously, and they had both turned out to be duds in what Chloe liked the call stud department.

Well her first serious boyfriend had only been a ruse to fool people into thinking they were actually dating. She was a teenager when she had dated Lucas Roberts, but it was only in the guise to get closer to his older and much cuter brother Austin Reed. She and Lucas had only gotten together because Lucas was interested in Sami's older sister Carrie and they had devised a plan to break up the golden couple. Every scheme they hatched failed and the night Austin had proposed to Carrie and she acceptedSami and Lucas had gotten so drunk they slept together.

Or they fumbled around attempting to have sex, Lucas had been too drunk to get it up and keep it up and he was so embarrassed about it, that they both decided they were better off not to ever speak of the _Failure to Launch_ night they would be better off as friends. Which was fine with her, she hadn't ever really been attracted to Lucas, he'd just been a means to an end and when Austin and Carrie finally married each other three years ago, she and Lucas were even able to laugh it off during the wedding reception over how silly they had been all those years ago.

Then last year, she had met Rafe Hernandez and she had been slightly interested in him. He was new in town and taken a job with the Salem police department. Her father Roman had raved over what a great guy Rafe was and had introduced them. It should have been the first warning sign that her father thought Rafe was wonderful, but she was tired of always being the plus one or having to endure her family asking when was she going to date some nice boy.

So she had said yes when Rafe asked her out and they had went out for several months and she'd honestly thought she could possibly fall for him, that was until the night he had finally made a move on her. His kisses hadn't bothered her, they were nice, nothing to write in her journal about, but given time she assumed they would become more passionate.

The night Sami liked to call _Disappointment 101_ was even worse than the _Failure to Launch_ night she had shared with Lucas. At least she and Lucas had found humor later on over their mishap of a night, whereas Rafe had been nothing short of angry with her when their night hadn't gone as he had apparently planned for them.

Sami knew she wasn't ugly by any stretch, but ever since she had reached puberty, her breasts had blossomed overnight, she'd went from a measly A cup to a borderline D cup and she had either been teased or ogled about the fact from that time onward. She didn't know how many times she had wanted to tell guys my eyes are up here instead of at her chest line. Chloe said she should be proud she had an impressive rack on her, that she hadn't had to have gone to a plastic surgeon for breast implants like she had done, but Chloe was always spouting off bullshit like that to her.

Thus being said, Rafe had tried several times to grab her boobs, but something made her pull away each time he attempted to touch her, but on _Disappointment 101_ night she had decided she was going to attempt having sex again and to have sex she should at least let him play with her rack. It had been years and surely this time would be a good one for her, she was a grown woman after all.

It wasn't like she hadn't ever masturbated before, hell she even owned a vibrator, which she had affectionately nicknamed Petey. While she hadn't had the real thing, she had experimented with Petey. And who hadn't watched porn before? So she knew what a penis looked liked and while she hadn't expected Rafe to be as well endowed as the guys she and Chloe had sometimes watched and laughed over in pornos for fun, he would be close, wouldn't he?

She had quickly found out the answer to that question. _A resounding hell no_, when Rafe had finally revealed himself to her after mauling her breasts for a while, even hard he had been a meager three inches, maybe 3 and a half if she was being generous in her proportions. Why even Petey was 6 inches, she had measured it, so when Rafe had supposedly whipped out his love monster he claimed to possess she had done the unthinkable.

_She had laughed…_

At first she had thought it was because she didn't have her contacts in and she wasn't wearing her glasses, but when she had reached for it even her small hand had dwarfed Rafe's love monster.

Needless to say Rafe hadn't been happy over her laughter which try as hard as she might, she couldn't contain, the more she tried to suppress it, the more she laughed. He angrily called her a bitch after the love monster shrank in her hand and turtled up, completely disappearing from sight.

Seriously Sami had felt bad, she shouldn't have laughed, but when Rafe called her an uptight frigid bitch, it made her mad too. She ordered him out of her apartment and unless he wanted everyone in Salem to know he had a pencil dick, he better not say one word to her father or anyone else about it.

So far she hadn't heard a word about it from her family or anyone else. Rafe had apparently told her father he was dating someone he had dated before he had come to Salem and that had gotten her off the hook. When her father had told her he was sorry he had tried to set her up with Rafe since he had gotten back together with an old girlfriend of his from back home, Sami nodded her head and said she understood how difficult it was to forget your first love.

_Disappointment 101 night would apparently live in infamy in her memory._

Maybe she was a tad uptight, but surely she wasn't frigid. While being called a bitch didn't bother her in the least, the thought that she might actually be frigid did bother her immensely. What was it about her that she'd only managed to have had two disastrous attempts at sex?

So technically she was a virgin, a very sexually frustrated 24 year old virgin. Only Chloe knew the truth and her best friend was sworn to secrecy. She'd kill her if she ever told anyone of her dilemma.

God she hoped she didn't wind up being a virgin until her dying day. But the pickings were slim in Salem since she was related to great deal of the single, attractive males that resided in the city, maybe she needed to venture out to Chicago. But not tonight, she wasn't going to a club in search of someone to rid her of her pesky virginity.

No, tonight she'd be going home alone, with one bottle or possibly two of the various assortments of wine that were left over from their baskets of love she and Chloe had assembled all this week. At least she had the forethought to have stashed two bottles in cooler a few hours earlier so that they would be chilled.

Yep, tonight it'd be her, wine, one of those trashy romance novels she secretly loved to read and if she got desperate enough she'd pull out Petey from his hiding place under her bed.

At least Petey had never let her down…

Chloe was tapping her fingers on the counter, all the flowers that had been ordered from their shop had been delivered and in the past hour the customers had dwindled down until there wasn't anyone left but the two of them.

Sami glanced at the clock, it was 7:30 pm and the sign on the door stated they were open until 8 pm tonight.

"Why don't you go on and go? It looks like the mad rush is over."

Chloe looked at the clock; she'd been counting down the minutes until she could see Brady. She had a big basket of goodies she was planning to take over to his apartment tonight. They were going to celebrate big time, but she felt bad Sami was going home alone.

"I can stay, I told Brady I wouldn't be over until sometime around nine tonight."

"I'm a big girl Chloe; I can lock up the place by myself."

"But I was hoping at least that new guy was going to come by the shop today. You know the one you kind of like."

"Chloe, I do not like EJ DiMera," Sami stressed to her best friend for what seemed like the hundredth time over the past three months since he had walked into their shop one day wanting to purchase flowers for a girl both she and Chloe equally despised.

_Nicole Walker, the biggest skank in Salem._

"Sami, while I know you are the queen of denial, I've seen how your eyes light up whenever he walks in the door."

"Do I have to remind you the man apparently has no taste in women, for heaven's sake he dates Nicole Walker, whore extraordinaire of Salem."

"I don't think he is very interested in her," Chloe claimed wholeheartedly.

"He comes in her every week to buy her freaking flowers!" Sami shook her head, for all of Chloe's knowledge of ways of the world in this instance she was being dense.

"He comes in here each week to specifically talk to you," Chloe tried to pull away the picture of the heart that Sami had begun to scribble out furiously, but Sami wouldn't let her have the piece of paper.

Sami stopped making black scribbles all over the heart logo Chloe had designed to put in all their gift baskets this year. "Chloe, EJ talks to you too."

Chloe rolled her eyes, "No, he always wants to speak to you if you are not up front."

"He does not," Sami argued with Chloe even though part of her wished what her best friend was saying was true. Even if EJ was the son of Stefano DiMera, he seemed nice, plus she didn't care about some age old feud her family had with the DiMera's. That was in the past when her grandparents were young; it didn't have anything to do with the present.

When she had met EJ three months ago, she had almost been tongue tied. He was without a doubt the best looking man she had ever seen in her life. Even Chloe had stopped in her tracks when he had walked into their shop.

"Look I know when a guy is interested and EJ DiMera gives off no vibes of interest for me. It would actually hurt my feelings if I weren't already head over heels in love with your brother Brady. EJ DiMera is a man I'd drop my panties for in an instant if he'd ever given me the time of day."

Sami slapped at her arm, "Chloe Lane!"

"No need to lie about it, the man is seriously hot. Hell I almost swooned when he opened his mouth and out came that sexy as hell English accent."

Sami had too, not that she'd let on to Chloe about it, she teased her enough about him without her knowing what she truly thought of EJ DiMera. Somehow ever since he had walked into the flower shop he had become the face of the man of her dreams and if late at night she ever let her fingers do the walking so to speak he was who she thought about in her fantasies.

"If I were you, I'd make a move on that fine specimen of a man. You know what they say about big hands and feet and he's tall too Sami. "

"Chloe," Sami began in a warning tone.

"You know he'd be hung like a damn horse. I almost drool every time we see him, especially since he moved down the hall in our apartment building."

Sami had tried to keep her composure around EJ, she'd played it cool even though just talking to him made her wet, add in those sexy fantasies and dreams she'd been having about him lately and she was hard pressed not to make a move on him like Chloe had been suggesting.

But somehow she and EJ had become friends in spite of him dating that ho Nicole. She avoided saying nasty things about her to him even though she'd nearly had to bite her tongue several times when he had asked her an opinion about what flowers he should buy for her.

Seriously she had wished she could find a flower Nicole was extremely allergic to so that EJ could give her an enormous bundle of them and it would cause her to break out in a huge rash.

The other night she had thought maybe EJ was tiring of Nicole, it was something he had said in passing to her, but Sami put if off as her overactive imagination wishing he was attracted to her instead.

She'd never been jealous of Nicole Walker in all of the years she had the misfortune of knowing her, but inside she was almost a shade of pea green envy that could match the green of her clingy t-shirt she was wearing today in honor of Single Awareness day. Which was in fact her favorite holiday, not that she advertised it, but if anyone beyond Chloe caught her viciously scribbling on a heart they might believe otherwise.

"I got you thinking about it," Chloe said in a sing song voice.

"I am not thinking about EJ DiMera and whether or not he is hung like you so crudely put it as a damn horse!"

"Sure you're not," Chloe patted Sami on the hand and gave it a squeeze. "I'm betting any woman with a pulse would like to climb that tree."

"I can't believe I'm saying it, but please leave so that you can go have wild monkey sex with my brother!"

Chloe snickered, "Well if you really want me to go."

"I do," Sami stated matter of fact.

"See you sometime tomorrow," Chloe leaned over to give Sami a hug. "I know I aggravate you about EJ, but I just want you to be happy like I am with Brady."

"And you think EJ DiMera would make me happy?" Sami asked wishing she had the chance to find out the answer to that herself.

Chloe grabbed her huge basket along with her pocketbook as she made her way to the front door, "Yes, I do."

Sami followed her to the door, she was just going to go ahead and lock up for the night, and it was only fifteen minutes before they were going to close anyway. "Night Chloe."

"Sweet dreams sister," Chloe said as she walked out the door. She was just a few feet away outside when she heard Sami lock the door to the shop behind her when suddenly she had a fabulous idea.

She was going to play Cupid for her best friend. Sami deserved better than going home alone tonight. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number she had put in there last week after their new neighbor had given it to them in case they ever needed anything.

Well Sami needed something Chloe thought EJ DiMera could give her. A night she'd never forget.

Without another thought to the contrary, Chloe dialed EJ's number and luckily she got him instead of his voicemail.

"EJ, hi this is Chloe. I was wondering if you could help me. I had to leave early and with all the money Sami and I made today in sales at the shop I really didn't want to leave her alone, but she insisted. Is there any way you could go by there to make sure she makes it home ok if you aren't too busy right now?"

Chloe smiled as she heard the eagerness in EJ's voice in reply as he told her he would be more than glad to go by, he'd go right now. Well now it was up to the both of them if they would act on the sexual chemistry she had witnessed brewing between the two of them.

She hoped for her best friend she was doing the right thing by calling EJ. Guess she would find out soon enough.

~I Hate Valentine's Day ~

EJ had been debating over whether or not to go to see Samantha today. While he had broken things off with Nicole last night he had thought about going to Samantha's shop using the ruse of needing to buy some flowers for Nicole even if he'd only take them back to his apartment instead.

When he had first met Nicole upon arriving in Salem after she had conducted what she had called a point of interest interview with him since he was the long lost son of the wealthiest man in Salem, he had thought she was funny, so he had asked her out and she had latched on to him so quickly to the point where he felt like he could no longer breathe.

After she had told him last night she thought she was falling into love with him; that was it for him. He couldn't lead her on anymore. The sex wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. She was too scrawny for his liking. He liked a woman who had curves and Nicole had been pretty much flat chested after he had taken off what he assumed was a Victoria Secret padded push up bra. Add in the fact that she didn't have much of an ass either and it had been all he could do to get it up no matter how much he enjoyed sex.

It was difficult enough moving to a city he'd never been to before, starting work for a man he barely knew as a father beyond seeing him over holidays from boarding school and becoming acclimated to this new life style he was suddenly forced into after graduating university and then law school.

So he had asked Nicole out because he was lonely.

_Big mistake on his part._

Now he only hoped she wouldn't become some kind of freaky stalker who wouldn't leave him alone after he had broken up with her.

It was surreal to only be twenty-five and landing a job at one of the most prestigious global corporations in the world. DiMera Enterprises was huge and one day his father promised he'd be running the entire company. His father had wanted him to move into the mansion where he lived, but EJ had wanted to live on his own. He had told his father how much he had appreciated the offer and maybe eventually he'd even move in there one day, although right now he wanted some kind of autonomy.

So he had moved into an apartment complex, which his father thought was absurd, but he liked it. Having his own things, doing things when he wanted to and when he had realized the girls he had met that ran the flower shop he had wandered into one day were his neighbors he knew he had made the right decision.

Samantha Brady hadn't been the first person he met in Salem, but she had definitely been the one who was constantly on his mind from the moment they crossed paths. No matter what he did, he thought about her, even when he had went out with Nicole.

So in order to see Samantha, he had refused to call her Sami like she had insisted was her name when her friend Chloe introduced them, he had went to her flower shop weekly to buy Nicole flowers. He liked Samantha's quick wit, her dry sense of humor and he'd have to be blind not to appreciate her beauty.

Samantha Brady was the first woman he'd actually been scared to ask out on a date because he was sure she'd say no to him and after they had become friends he was afraid of losing her friendship. He'd never actually had a woman friend before, usually he'd bedded the ones he befriended and then moved on to his next conquest.

Until he'd met Samantha Gene Brady; and she wasn't like the rest of the women he had been interested in before, he wanted to know more about her as a person, but he wasn't going to lie to himself, he also wanted her in his bed. He had thought she might actually ring him up after he had given her his number, but so far, not one call from her at all. And she hadn't given him her number either, so it had kind of been a blow to his self esteem, he wasn't used to not garnering a speck of attention from a woman.

Then the call from Chloe had came a few minutes ago asking him if he had time to please go check on Samantha to make sure she made it home safe and sound and immediately he thought it had to be fate. After all it was Valentine's Day, the day of love where anything was possible.

~I Hate Valentine's Day ~

Sami had swept the floor, wiped off the counters and work areas of the shop and was ready to go home, until she heard a knock on the front door of the shop. She almost didn't go to the front since she had already turned the closed sign on the door, but it could be a last minute shopper who had forgotten to buy flowers for their loved one and even if she didn't believe in love she had to help the poor unfortunate souls who actually believed in fairy tales and those kinds of crazy things.

She had the broom in her hand in case it turned out to be someone up to no good instead of an actual customer, if need be she could probably knock the crap out of someone with it, so she wasn't particularity worried that someone would actually try to steal from her. It also didn't hurt that most everyone in Salem knew her father was the police commissioner of the Salem police department.

It was already dark outside so she couldn't actually see who was knocking intently on the door until she was looking out and seeing none other than her fantasy man.

_EJ DiMera_

She was tempted to tell him they were closed as if he couldn't already tell by looking at the sign on her door because quite frankly she didn't think Nicole the ho Walker deserved any flowers for Valentine's Day especially since the man standing outside of the door had already bought her almost every variety of flower they had at the shop.

But she guessed even ho's received flowers on Valentine's Day, just not her.

She took a deep breath, ready to give EJ a welcoming smile when she turned the key to allow him entry into the shop.

"EJ, sorry I was in the back of the store cleaning up and didn't hear you knocking at first. Have you been waiting long?" She asked using her sweet voice, she wasn't going to let her disgust with him dating Nicole enter into their conversation. If he hadn't already figured out Nicho was a slut, he would given time. It wasn't her place to inform him of Nicole's skankiness even though it almost killed her to be polite about the woman.

"No, I just arrived. I didn't realize you were already closed." EJ strode into the shop, noting all the overhead lights were already out, only a dim glow surrounding them was emitting from the coolers that housed flowers.

"It was almost closing time and Chloe had a hot date with Brady tonight," Sami stated as she held onto the broom tightly so as not to let her hands have an ideal of wanting to reach out and touch the hotness of the man who was standing in her shop.

And for the first time Sami realized they were completely alone with one another, every other time she had seen EJ, Chloe had always been present.

You'd think she and Chloe were joined at the hip; then again they worked and lived together.

Thank god though they didn't share men together, as Sami shook her head thinking that would be kind of sick even if she wasn't actually related to Brady by blood, he was still her step brother.

"Are you all right Samantha?" EJ asked noting she had shaken her head over something and he hadn't said anything to her beyond stating he hadn't realized the shop was closed.

Which was a complete and total lie, but he didn't want her thinking he would come by her place of work with the sole purpose of seeking her out. She'd think he was such an idiot.

"Sure, I'm just tired. It's been a long day."

"I bet you were busy all day."

Sami nodded her head, "It's been a mad house this entire week. You know with all the crazy hubbub that goes along with it being Valentine's Day."

"Guess you're glad you're off tomorrow," EJ added and then thought she really was going to think he was an imbecile of course she knew tomorrow was Sunday and that was the only day of the week that her shop was closed.

"Yeah, it will be nice to be off," Sami said agreeably, making small talk with him because seeing him had been the highlight of her day so far.

He was just going to go ahead and ask her, just to know for sure, "So no hot date for you tonight?"

She actually snorted in laughter before she honestly answered him, "No. I haven't had a so called hot date in ages. Chloe gets all the action around her, not me."

"I can't believe you don't have all the men around here clamoring for a chance to take you out."

Sami looked at EJ like he was barmy, was he serious? Hell the only action she was getting tonight would most likely be from a battery operated vibrator she called Petey.

Hell her life was a hot mess, here she was standing talking to the guy she had daily multiple fantasies about having sex with and he was going on about how men would be fighting over each other trying to take her out.

Damn she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a date that she didn't wish was over within thirty minutes of it beginning.

_Maybe she was frigid._

Great the realization that she most surely had to be some uptight frigid bitch like Rafe had called her last year was coming true.

But her mind argued with her, if she was frigid there was no way EJ being near her would make her want to climb his tree like Chloe had naughtily suggested to her only a little while ago before she left.

He reached out to touch her arm, hoping she would loosen up the death grip she held on that broom. Damn as soon as he touched her arm he was hard as stone, he had it bad for her and she had no clue at all. "Samantha, do you want to sit down? You really do look tired."

Great now she looked tired, next thing she knew his holy hotness was going to wanting to get her a glass of water or walk her across the street because he was afraid she couldn't make it home on her own.

She shook her head in negation, "No, EJ. I'm fine. I'm just ready to go home, but if you came by for something I'll be glad to help you even if the shop is already closed."

Oh he wanted something from her, he wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her, something he had wanted to do from the first time he saw her. He just wanted one taste of her to see if her lips would be as sweet as he imagined they would be, those lips he had wicked dreams about her doing more with than just kissing him.

Now he was harder than he had been a few moments before. He was glad the lighting was low so she couldn't see his pants stretching over his erection.

Then he had an idea, hopefully this wouldn't backfire on him. "Well I was looking for something out of the ordinary for Valentine's day."

"Hmmm, well that rules out roses," Sami placed the broom by the cash register as she walked over to the main coolers that were nearly depleted of any kind of flowers. "We're almost out of everything after today."

"You don't have any tiger lilies?" EJ asked in hopes that would steer her towards the back of the store, hopefully giving him a few more seconds before he acted on his impulses and kissed her.

"Just a few left, most people don't order them for Valentine's day even though that is the name of my shop. Let me go check in the back."

"I'll come with you," EJ offered up before she could say no.

"Ok, follow me," Sami led EJ through the darkened store, thinking nothing of him going into the back room with her, where all the adult toys they had left were shelved.

She made her way to the cooler that lined the entire wall of the back room even though she was more than a bit saddened EJ was going to buy her favorite flower to give to Nicole. She almost wanted to turn back and tell him there weren't any left, but as soon as she turned on her heel and ran right into his chest, his hands clutching as her so she wouldn't fall.

Damn there she was making a fool of herself, now he'd think she was clumsy on top of everything else. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking about where I was going. How many of them do you want?"

"All of them," he answered as he ran his hands up her arms and then released her when he saw her start to frown. "Is that all right Samantha? I mean you don't need them for another floral arrangement do you?"

"No, let me go get a vase and a card," Sami said tiredly. "I'm sure Nicole wouldn't want them only wrapped in paper."

EJ watched Sami go out of the room, her head down, wishing he had said something to her, but she had quickly moved away from him before he could utter a word. She returned with a unique looking vase and gingerly took out the remaining tiger lilies to place them in it along with adding a few other flowers and some sprigs of greenery into the mix as well.

"We will have to go to the front counter by the cash register to find a card, I may have one left up there since I think we used all the ones today for our arrangements and gift baskets."

She handed him the vase and then walked ahead of him to the counter, instead of him walking to the other side like customers did when she waited on them, he chose to stand right beside her, so close they were almost touching.

"Good I found one," Sami stated as she reached for the pen she had been using earlier to make the blackened scribbles on the heart. "What do you want it to say? I'll just write it out for you since I've already shut down the computer system for the day."

EJ looked over to the drawing where Sami had taken the pen from, noticing the attempts to blacken out the heart. He placed the vase down and easily reached over her to pluck the sheet of paper from its resting place on the counter. "What's this?"

Sami looked seeing EJ had her child like drawing over Chloe's beautiful heart design. "Do you want to know the truth or have me lie to you?"

The truth, I wouldn't have asked you if I wanted you to lie to me," EJ replied even though he wasn't above lying when the need arose.

"I swear I will deny it if you ever repeat this to anyone, but I hate Valentine's Day."

"You the owner of the floral and gift shop that is the epitome of the holiday hates Valentine's day."

"With an ever growing passion it seems," Sami shrugged her shoulders. "So what do you want me to write on the last undesecrated heart where I can get the hell out of here and go home."

_Damn he was falling for her, falling hard and he hadn't even kissed her yet_.

"Any day now EJ," Sami prompted, her tone a little less friendly as each minute has passed by after he had requested he wanted all of her remaining tiger lilies for the floral arrangement he wanted her to make for him.

"I dare you to love me."

Sami's heart plummeted, EJ actually knew the meaning of her favorite flower in all the world and now he was going to give those beautiful blooms to Nicole Walker. She took a deep breath, tried to stop the tears that instantly sprung to her eyes and willed herself not to cry. With a shaky hand, she wrote the words on the card. When she was finished she looked up into EJ's eyes, "I am sure Nicole will love these."

"They are not for Nicole," EJ said quietly.

"Well then who could they be for? I mean you are dating Nicole."

"Nicole isn't the one for me."

"Who are you daring to love you?" Sami asked softly.

"You."

"Me?" Sami asked thinking she must have misheard him, surely she was hearing things.

EJ pulled her into his arms, "Yes, you Samantha Gene Brady. I'm already smitten with you, have been from the first time I saw you."

"But, but… you've been dating Nicole and buying her flowers each week," Sami stuttered.

"I had to find some kind of plausible excuse to come see you without it being obvious. I've been taking the flowers to work each week and giving them to the women that work in the office to let them know how much we appreciate their loyalty to the company."

"So Nicole hasn't been receiving flowers from you each week?"

"No, I wanted to see you and I thought you'd tell me no if I asked you out."

"Well you have been dating Nicole."

"I was dating Nicole. I want to date you."

"Me? You could have anyone you wanted, why would you want to go out with me?"

"Yes, you, I think you are pretty amazing Samantha Brady. Is it okay if I kiss you now? I mean I know you kind of hate Valentine's Day and all, but maybe I could change your mind about the holiday if you give me the chance."

"So you really are daring me to love you?"

EJ shook his head, "Yes, let me kiss you woman."

"Well I've never been one to back down from a challenge."

EJ smiled and closed the distance between them and kissed her.

Sami thought as she opened her mouth under his and EJ deepened the kiss that maybe he could be the one to change her mind about Valentine's Day.

She guessed anything was possible…

_**The End**_


End file.
